


When in Budapest

by OnceBlinkInsomniac



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Humor, Hyejoo is a panicked gay, Slow Burn, Useless Lesbians
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:00:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26834851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnceBlinkInsomniac/pseuds/OnceBlinkInsomniac
Summary: Based on the following prompt: Olivia Hye being best friends and prank buddies. They would prank Yves and Chuu a lot until Olivia realized she has a crush on Gowon. She confesses and Gowon likes her back.Or the one where Olivia learns to let go of the past and live in the now
Relationships: Ha Sooyoung | Yves & Kim Jiwoo | Chuu, Jeon Heejin/Kim Hyunjin, Park Chaewon | Go Won/Son Hyejoo | Olivia Hye
Comments: 6
Kudos: 41
Collections: Girl Crush Fic Exchange





	When in Budapest

Hyejoo’s family was what society would deem “normal.” She had two parents who were very happily married and an older sister who she loved to annoy. Her dad was a college professor while her mother worked for a law firm. They lived in a modest, two-story house and had family dinners. They were basically a picture-perfect average family. Or at least they would have been if it weren’t for one very important fact.

The Son family were notorious for their affinity for pranking. Some would even call it an obsession but they preferred to see it as “doing their part to make the world they lived in a less dark place by making use of their natural abilities of deception to make people laugh”, as her father would often say. As you can imagine, most people’s reactions varied from speechlessness to rolling their eyes to downright avoiding them.

Her parents, however, insisted that without that, they wouldn’t even be together in the first place. They argued that it was proof that it brought people together. Her father had been somewhat of a rebel during his high school years. Or at least that’s how he would describe himself whenever they told their daughters the story, too busy throwing each other heart eyes to notice them rolling their eyes.

He had been known as the school prankster and everyone immediately looked to him whenever something went wrong in the school. He had gotten quite the reputation. Which is why it surprised no one when he was, once again, called into the principal’s office one day. Well, no one except himself, that is. He couldn’t keep the confusion out of his face as he was scolded for apparently spray painting a whole wall of lockers pink.

He tried explaining that he had no idea what they were talking about but still ended up leaving the office with two months’ worth of detention. He seemingly spent all his time there anyways but it was usually because of something he had actually done. That very day, he couldn’t stop glancing at the popular head cheerleader. Not that that was anything new. The bubbly girl always had eyes following her every move and a posse walking behind her.

Unlike the others, however, who were staring at her face, he couldn't tear his eyes away from her hands. To be more specific, from the small, pink paint stain on her palm. The girl must have noticed his staring and proceeded to shoot a small smirk his way before turning back to all her followers.

He knew that his latest prank of filling the showerheads in the locker room with jelly had made the cheerleaders especially mad, as they were the ones who were targeted, but he’d never expected for one of them to get him back like that. Especially not her. Who knew there was more behind that superficial, preppy façade she always had on, he mused.

He knew he should have probably felt mad at having been used as a scapegoat but he couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle at the unexpectedness of the situation. He made good use of his detentions to formulate a revenge prank and soon, it was an all-out war between the two of them. Everyone had realized by then that there was someone else besides him orchestrating them but no one knew it was her. Soon enough, they found out that it was much more fun to team up together against the student body and by their senior year, it was them against the world. And years later, it still was.

As can be expected, they made sure to pass on their love for pranking to both their daughters. Growing up in that house, waking up to a bed full of fake spiders or having your toothpaste replaced with chili paste was a normal occurrence and they all had a “friendly” ongoing competition of who could pull of the greatest prank. It was their families' way of showing affection.

Hyejoo loved everything about it. From coming up with the most ridiculous of ideas too actually finding a way to pull them off. She prided herself over being the best prankster of her family. A title she’d technically given herself and both her parents and her sister had refuted but that’s neither here nor there. Safe to say, Hyejoo had a very happy childhood. Albeit it might have been filled with a few more trips to the emergency room than that of an average person but hey, who could blame them if they got a little bit too carried away every now and then.

The only thing she was unhappy with was being homeschooled. Don’t get her wrong, Hyejoo loved her parents and she loved spending so much time with them but she longed to meet more people her age. Her only friends had been her next-door neighbors, a pair of twins who were more than happy to let Hyejoo exploit their identical looks for the sake of a few pranks. Unfortunately, they’d moved away when she was 11 and she was left as the only young child in the neighborhood. That’s what motivated her to finally convince her parents to send her to a normal school. Something she would soon come to regret.

Her first few weeks were better than she could have expected. A girl in her homeroom class approached her on the first day and introduced her to her friend group. The only downside was that they would often comment on things that had happened before she joined them which would have them all cracking up as they remembered. She couldn’t help but feel like she was still an outsider.

This is why Hyejoo was especially excited when one of the girls invited them all to her house for a sleepover. She was still new to the group and she was excited about being accepted as part of them. She spent days leading up to the sleepover planning the perfect prank. Something that they would all be able to laugh at in the future and that would cement her place as one of them.

After much consideration, she knew exactly what to do. On the day of the sleepover, she packed a few of the many plastic spiders they had laying around in the house in her overnight bag and got in the car so her mom could drive her over.

The sleepover was going well, although a little dull in Hyejoo’s opinion. She couldn’t understand why the other girls got so excited talking about a guy in their class but she played along anyway, eager for what she had planned. A few hours later, once they’d finally gone to sleep, she quietly got out of her sleeping bag and crept over to the bed where two of the girls were sleeping.

Hyejoo had to fight back the small giggles that threatened to escape as she positioned each plastic spider carefully, making it so that they would be the first thing the girls saw when they woke up. Afterward, she crept back to her sleeping bag. Her last thought before sleep overtook her was how much she couldn’t wait for morning to come.

\--------

The next morning, Hyejoo was woken up by a scream. She quickly jumped to her feet, watching gleefully at the sight before her. Eunmi and Jiae, the two girls who had been sleeping on the bed, were screaming their heads off as Enmi tried desperately to get out from under the covers. The noise quickly awoke the other girls and brought Eunmi’s parents running into the room.

The chaos that descended over the next few seconds left Hyejoo almost rolling over in laughter. They realized that the spiders weren’t real no more than a few seconds after the parents had barged in and soon, silence filled the room as everyone stared at the laughing girl. Jiae suddenly burst into tears before running out of the room and the girls all ran after her, but not before shooting glares towards Hyejoo.

The young girl felt guilt coiling in her stomach when she realized no one else was laughing. She’d never wanted to make someone cry. She wanted to explain how she’d only wanted to make them all laugh but words failed her. Her friend's parents asked her to pack up her stuff and Hyejoo obeyed wordlessly, feeling too embarrassed to say anything. Less than half an hour later, she was sitting in the car as her parents drove her home. They kept asking her what had happened but she refused to say anything and quickly ran up to her room once they got back home.

Hyejoo spent all weekend locked in her room wondering how things had gone so wrong. Monday morning, Hyejoo noticed eyes following her as she entered the school. She could hear whispers around her which only worked to increase her worry. Shaking her confusion away, she approached her friends who were standing around Eunmi’s locker. She hadn’t seen or talked with them since Jiae had burst into tears and ran away.

She was a bit hesitant but wanted to apologize and explain she never had any malicious intents. She didn’t get the chance too, however, as they immediately stiffened when they saw her and sent her glares. “What do you want freak?” Jiae scoffed. Hyejoo visibly flinched at the harsh words, not expecting it from the girl who had seemed so nice only days before. She could feel everyone watching them as the girls stared at her expectantly, waiting for an answer. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, unsure of how to apologize, before it all became too much and she turned around and fled. All the while hating herself for the tears that had managed to escape.

That failed sleepover marked the rest of her school days and from then on, everyone knew her as the weirdo who had made one of the popular girls' cry. It was then that Hyejoo realized that maybe her parents had been wrong when they’d said that pranking brought people together. In her experience, all it did was drive people away. She started distancing herself from her family after that. She knew it wasn’t their fault but at the same time, she couldn’t help but blame them for not preparing her for what school and people her age were actually like.

Hyejoo would never admit it to anyone but her reputation as a loner was actually part of what drove her to convince her parents to try out for a new idol company. She still had a few years before graduating and she couldn’t imagine having to wait so long before she could get away. She’d always loved dancing and singing but her love for both had only increased with the years and they had become an escape from the loneliness. So when she saw the announcement that a small idol company was still holding auditions for their new girl group, she took advantage of it.

Her parents didn’t need much convincing and were probably more excited about the opportunity than Hyejoo herself. They took her to the audition and were there with her to celebrate when she got the news that she had gotten in. Hyejoo had been mentally preparing herself for what would be a long time of training so imagine her shock when she was called into the CEO’s office literally a day after and offered the last spot in their new girl group.

Things moved pretty quickly after that. She found herself moving out of her house and into the dorm with eleven other girls she didn’t even know. Things were weird at first. The girls were all nice to her but she couldn’t help but feel as though the other shoe was about to drop at any second. So, she kept to herself for the most part. She smiled for the camera and acted like she was just shy but would disappear the second the cameras did.

She knew it didn’t make sense but some part of her couldn’t help but think about how Eunmi and Jiae and the other girls had all seemed really nice at first too and she was afraid that if she spent too much time with the other members they would realize that she was weird just like the others had and would stop being so kind to her.

Things changed when her subunit had to go to Budapest to film their mv. Hyejoo quickly realized that it’s much harder to avoid the members when it’s just the four of them than when everyone was there and for some unexplainable reason, all three of them were determined to get to know their subunit’s maknae.

Chaewon was the first one to approach her one night right before she was about to go to sleep. Both girls were sharing a hotel room. “Hey, want to see something?” She asked the slightly younger girl. Hyejoo scrunched her eyebrows questioningly but didn’t have the chance to ask anything before the blonde girl was taking her by the hand and dragging her along. They found themselves in the hallway right around the corner of Sooyoung and Jiwoo’s room. Hyejoo turned to question Chaewon but was shushed before she could even get a word out.

“Just watch”, she ordered. Hyejoo complied, although begrudgingly. Less than two minutes later, a familiar scream was heard from down the hallway. A door was slammed open as a now green-haired Sooyoung wearing only a bathrobe stormed down the hallway and started knocking harshly on their room door. “Chaewon, I know you’re in there. Open up you little shit”, she screamed. Jiwoo had followed after her by that point and was trying to calm the furious girl down.

A laughing Chaewon grabbed her by the hand again. “Come on. We don’t want to be here when she finally realizes there’s no one in the room.” With that, she once again proceeded to drag the girl off to the nearest elevator. A few minutes later found both girls standing on the otherwise empty terrace.

Chaewon was still laughing and Hyejoo was surprised to see a side she had never seen of her before. She stopped when she realized her younger member wasn’t laughing along with her, however. “What’s wrong?” she asked, her previous smile having been replaced by a concerned look. Hyejoo shook her head. “She seemed really mad at you. Aren’t you worried?” she asked. The anger in the girl’s voice was still reverberating through her mind.

Chaewon started laughing again once she realized that was what had the other girl worried. “Don’t worry, it’s only dye. It'll wash out after a very throughout shower. Although, fair warning, if any of your things go missing in the next few days, it’s her. She always does the same thing as payback and thinks she’s so sleek when really, she’s not."

Hyejoo shook her head in disbelief. “You’re saying you’ve done this before? And she doesn’t dislike you?” Chaewon stared at her for a few moments, brow furrowed. The previous playful atmosphere was nowhere to be found as a heavy tension filled the air. “Of course not. It’s just a prank”, she finally said. “Look, I’m sorry about this. I was just trying to break the ice. I didn’t know you disliked pranks so much. If you want, I can go apologize right now.”

Hyejoo could hear the genuine regret in the blonde’s voice and she almost wished she could turn back time instead of opening her big mouth and ruining the moment. She opened her mouth to explain or say something but nothing came out. Chaewon took the silence as confirmation and shot the other girl a small, sad smile. “I’ll go do that right away then”, she said before turning around and leaving.

Hyejoo had never been good at explaining herself, something which had gotten her in trouble many times before but she had never hated her inability to express what she truly wanted to say as much as she did at that moment, standing on the terrace alone.

That night, while Chaewon slept on the bed beside hers, Hyejoo kept replaying her words. She couldn’t help but feel slightly offended at the implication that she “wasn’t used to playing pranks.” She could feel the competitiveness that had once been so familiar to her arising once more. A small smile formed on her face as ideas ran through her mind, fueled by the need to prove her groupmate wrong.

\-------

A few days later, the four girls were standing around the hotel lobby with their bags when their manager approached them, a solemn look on his face. He quietly told Chaewon that he needed a quick word with her. Chaewon looked slightly worried but she nodded, following after him. They stopped a few feet away, close enough that they could see the panicked look on Chaewon’s face but far enough that they couldn’t hear what was said that had brought her such obvious distress.

Their manager wasn’t finished, however, and whatever it was that he said next had to be bad as the worry started turning to anger. Chaewon flailed her arms around as she seemingly tried to make some kind of counterpoint. “What’s going on?” Jiwoo wondered aloud. Sooyoung shrugged her shoulders helplessly. “I have no idea but whatever it is, it doesn’t look good.” Both older girls were staring at the scene with concern and it was this that finally drove Hyejoo to the edge, the laughter she had been trying so hard to keep back finally escaping.

Two heads swiveled towards her immediately. “Why are you laughing?” Sooyoung asked. “Wait, do you know something about this?” suspicion underlined her tone. Hyejoo nodded her head proudly. “I got Jeongwu Oppa to tell Chaewon that he’s lost her passport and she’s going to need to stay here for a while until they sort it out.” Sooyoung stared at her, expression unreadable. Worry had just started to fill Hyejoo when the older girl let out an uncharacteristic snort.

“Nice. Serves her right for the blue hair”, she stated. Jiwoo looked at her disapprovingly but Hyejoo could see the faint amusement in her eyes.

Their conversation was interrupted by the return of a frantic looking Chaewon. “You’re never going to believe what just happened”, she exclaimed angrily. She then started ranting about what she’d just been told and the injustice of the situation for a whole five minutes before the girls finally burst into laughter. Chaewon stopped mid-rant, surprised by the sudden outbursts. “I’m sorry, is me staying alone in another continent for who knows how long amusing to you?” she stated once they’d finally calmed down. Unfortunately for her, that only helped to start yet another laughing outburst.

“I’m sorry but I’ve never seen you so angry before. It’s kind of hilarious.” Chaewon stared at Jiwoo offended and was about to give off a scathing remark when Sooyoung stepped in. “What’s even more hilarious is you actually believing him.” Chaewon stared at her in disbelief. “Wait, what? Are you saying he was lying?” “I guess karma really is a bitch huh?”

It was then that Jiwoo took ahold of Sooyoung’s arm and muttered something about needing help with something before proceeding to drag the older girl away, deaf to her protests. Good thing too as Chaewon had looked seconds away from jumping her and Hyejoo had to admit that the slightly older girl could look surprisingly intimidating when she wanted.

Hyejoo was left alone with Chaewon in what had to be the most uncomfortable silence of her life. She was about to start apologizing, thinking maybe she’d crossed the line again when Chaewon let out a small chuckle. She was shaking her head in amusement as she looked at Hyejoo. “I’ve got to hand it to her. I definitely didn’t think she had it in her.”

“Oh, she doesn’t. It wasn’t her.” Chaewon looked confused until realization finally dawned on her. “Wait, seriously? You?” Hyejoo scoffed, slightly offended at the doubt that lingered in her voice. “I will have you know I happen to come from a long line of pranksters”, she said, adopting a false, snobbish voice. She could only hold the blonde's stare for a few seconds before both burst into laughter.

Sooyoung and Jiwoo returned a few moments later to tell them that their car had finally arrived to take them to the airport. Chaewon sat next to her on the flight back and they spent the entire flight telling each other about the craziest pranks they’d ever pulled. It was the first time Hyejoo actually felt like she belonged somewhere, other than with her family, and it made her realize that it might be time to stop hiding.

\-------

Hyejoo’s dynamics with the other members changed drastically after that trip. Sooyoung had been quick to tell them about the prank Hyejoo had pulled on Chaewon, albeit with a few exaggerations including saying that Chaewon had almost started crying. That one had earned her a pillow to the face and a spoonful of salt in her coffee the next morning but she didn’t seem to regret it.

The story, however, had made the others look at her differently. They’d been living together for a few months by then and they hadn’t gotten almost any conversation that wasn’t in front of a camera out of her so far so to hear of the antics they’d been up to while away and seeing how she seemed closer to her subunit members now made them all want to get to know the admittedly mysterious girl even more.

Fortunately for them, Hyejoo was a lot more open to their offer of friendship now and by the time the girls were getting ready to release their second comeback, Hyejoo had eleven new best friends. Some more annoying than others but she loved them all the same. Okay, maybe not exactly the same. Chaewon and her had grown much closer after discovering their mutual love of pranks and Hyejoo could honestly say that she couldn’t imagine her life without the blonde.

A few days after yyxy had returned from their trip, Hyejoo had woken up with one eyebrow shaved off. Chaewon had declared it revenge for her previous prank. She’d gotten scolded by both Jungeun and Haseul for it but that wasn’t enough for Hyejoo and she’d immediately started planning her own revenge.

Needless to say, almost two years later and their prank war was still ongoing although them pranking each other was becoming increasingly rarer as they had soon found out that it was much more fun to combine their efforts towards one of their unlucky members. Sooyoung especially found herself on the other side of their pranks and it was really a great demonstration of her patience that she hadn’t strangled either one of them yet. Emphasis on the yet.

It was during one of these pranks that everything changed once again. Chaewon and Hyejoo were running through BBC’s hallways, desperate for a way out. A janitor’s closet caught Chaewon’s eye just as they were running past and her hand shot out to grab Hyejoo’s arms, both girls coming to a sudden halt. “Through here”, she said as she quickly opened the door and shover the brunette inside before following after her and shutting the door.

Darkness engulfed them as soon as the door closed and the only sound was the heavy breathing as they tried to get air back in their lungs. Hyejoo suddenly let out a small laugh, no longer being able to contain it now that they were out of immediate danger. “Did you see their faces?” she laughed. Chaewon let out a snort. “I didn’t even know a person could turn that shade of red.” Her comment set both of them off as the image of Jungeun’s face ran through their mind.

Unfortunately for them, their laughter was heard by the very people they’d been trying to avoid. Light suddenly filled the room and they were staring at their four pissed off members. “Do either of you want to explain why our study is filled with bubbles?” Jungeun snapped. “Or ours covered with hundreds of post-it notes?” Sooyoung continued.

Hyejoo and Chaewon turned to stare at each other for a few seconds before simultaneously turning to face their members and shrugging their shoulders. “No idea. Maybe you can ask Yeojin? I’m pretty sure I saw her buying a lot of post-it notes the other day.” All four girls remained unmoved; arms crossed as they waited for an explanation. “Nice try but Haseul has been helping Yeojin study back in the dorm all day.” 

Chaewon suddenly turned to point a finger at Hyejoo. “It was her idea, she forced me.” Hyejoo turned to look at her best friend, a look of betrayal on her face. “What the hell Chae. It was your idea.”

“Sorry Hye but it’s everyone for themselves when they look that pissed off.” She was pointing at the four girls who all looked unimpressed with the usual theatrics. “I really don’t care whose idea it was. You’re going to clean it up anyways.” With that, Jinsol grabbed Chaewon by the arm and started dragging her off, followed by Jungeun.

Left alone, Hyejoo turned to look at her two subunit members, both who still looked pretty angry. For someone who was usually brighter than the sun, Jiwoo could look pretty intimidating when she wanted to. “So, did you guys know Hyunjin found a kitten in an alley last week and snuck it into the dorm?” Her and Heejin have been secretly taking care of it ever since.” Her attempt at distracting them failed and she found herself being dragged the opposite direction of Chaewon, back towards the study Sooyoung and Jiwoo shared.

That was how Hyejoo found herself carrying a trash bag with one hand and peeling post-it notes and throwing them into the aforementioned bag with the other an hour later. She stared enviously at Jiwoo who was playing on her Nintendo switch before Sooyoung coughed, catching her attention. “Back to work Son. You’re only about halfway done.” Hyejoo bit back the backtalk and wordlessly got back to cleaning up the mess she and Chaewon had done, knowing better than to push Sooyoung’s buttons even more at that moment.

At least she only had to clean a few thousand post-it notes. She didn’t envy Chaewon who had to clean a room full of bubbles. Not to mention, Jungeun tended to be a bit scarier than Sooyoung when mad. Not that she’d ever tell Sooyoung though. The girl was too proud of the intimidating image she was sure she gave off. All thanks to a few orbits and their newest So What comeback. The members just didn’t have the heart to tell her that even Yerim was more intimidating than her. With a sigh, Hyejoo went back to the mindless task.

\----------

Hyejoo set the trash bag by her side with a happy sigh as she stared at the now empty walls. “Ok I’m done so I’m going back to the dorm now,” she told the two other girls who were now cuddling on the couch. “What, you’re not going to go help your girlfriend?” Sooyoung questioned.

“My what?” Hyejoo asked, confused. Jiwoo immediately landed a hit on her girlfriend’s arm. “Sooyoung”, she exclaimed warningly. “What? It’s not like everybody doesn’t know already” she defended herself, rubbing at the sore spot on her arm.

“Know what”, Hyejoo questioned. Both girls ignored her, stuck in one of their usual, wordless conversations which Hyejoo hated. Sooyoung groaned in desperation. “Come on Jiwoo. Someone has to tell them because they’re to oblivious to notice it themselves.” Jiwoo didn’t give a verbal answer, only sighing in defeat. Sooyoung took that as confirmation and turned to look at the annoyed girl. “Come on Hyejoo. We know you’re in love with Chaewon. It’s kind of obvious.”

Silence filled the room for a few moments while Hyejoo tried to take in the older girl’s words. “Sorry, but what the hell are you talking about?” Hyejoo sputtered. She ignored Jiwoo’s disapproving look in favor of staring her unit leader down, awaiting an answer.

“I’m talking about you being completely, over heels in love with our fourth unit member,” Sooyoung said. Anger overwhelmed Hyejoo for some inexplicable reasons and she suddenly wanted nothing more than to wipe away Sooyoung’s knowing smirk. “No, I’m not, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said vehemently. “Oh please, you’re not fooling anyone. Except yourself that is.”

Hyejoo taking a step in Sooyoung’s direction prompted Jiwoo to stand up. “Look Hye, Soo might not have said it in the best way but you have to admit that you treat her very differently than you treat the rest of us.” She said, tone placating. Sooyoung laughed at that. “Yeah cause she’s whipped.” Jiwoo turned to glare at her girlfriend and Hyejoo had to admit that she enjoyed the way the older girl immediately looked like a small child that had been scolded by her parents.

“Sorry, Hyejoo. That was out of line”, she apologized, genuine remorse in her voice. Hyejoo was about to go back to reputing their claims when the door to the study opened before she got an answer. “Hey, are you finished?” Chaewon asked. Hyejoo nodded her head. “Yeah I just got done. How did you finish so quickly though?” “Oh, Jinsoul unnie was nice enough to help me.” Sooyoung scoffed at that. “More likely you either begged or manipulated her into helping you.”

Chaewon ignored the jab in favor of Hyejoo. “Come on. We’re stopping at that boba tea store I like before going back to the dorm.” Hyejoo wordlessly complied, gathering her stuff before walking towards the door. “Bring me back my usual drink please”, Jiwoo called out, to which Chaewon agreed before turning to walk out. Hyejoo turned to follow after her, ignoring Sooyoung’s “whipped” comment. She couldn’t help but smile, however, at the small pained yelp that followed after it, making a mental note to buy Jiwoo a pastry to go alongside her drink.

\-------

A few days later, Hyejoo laid in her bed thinking back on Sooyoung’s words. She had brushed them off initially, thinking nothing of them, but she couldn’t help but notice all the small stuff now. She’d never been one for physical demonstrations of affection. Due to her unique background, aka her family showing affection by pranking each other instead of normal stuff like hugging, plus her lack of friends while growing up, she’d never been sure about what was normal between friends.

Living with people like Jiwoo and Heejin had changed that though. Both girls were always clinging to either their girlfriends or another member and Hyejoo had eventually gotten used to it. And so, she didn’t even think twice about when it was Chaewon clinging to her or sitting on her lap. Now that she thought about it, though, she realized that none of the other members ever made her so happy just by showing a bit of affection. If anything, she felt more annoyed by them than anything.

Chaewon was the exception. Hyejoo knew the older girl had changed her life for the better that night, a few years back in Hungary. She’d made her open up again and made the loneliness that had been a constant in her life disappear.

But did that mean she was in love with her? Hyejoo questioned doubtfully. Surely, she would know if that were the case. Sooyoung and Jiwoo were obviously imagining things. Hyejoo could feel a headache forming from all the questions she had and so, she momentarily shoved them to the back of her mind and decided to finally get some sleep. Unfortunately for her, sleep evaded her as her mind ran wild with thoughts about her best friend. It was around four in the morning that Hyejoo realized that her members might have been on to something after all. 

\------

Hyejoo was an absolute idiot. She had to be. There was no other reasonable explanation for why she was hiding from Chaewon in a closet, the irony of which did not fall short on her. After spending that whole night overanalyzing every single interaction between her and Chaewon in the last few years, she’d finally come to the conclusion that her feelings definitely ran deeper than she’d realized. 

It seems that Sooyoung’s words had opened a dam inside her mind and she hadn’t been able to stop overthinking everything since. Which of course led her to start avoiding the very girl who wouldn’t stop running through her mind. In her defense, Hyejoo didn’t do emotions very well. Or crushes. Not that she’d ever had one before. After the whole incident in school, she’d kept to herself for the next few years and so, while everyone else her age was dealing with their first relationships, she was throwing herself into her dancing.

Hyejoo hadn’t even known she was attracted to women before. Not that that really mattered to her. She was lucky enough to come from an open-minded family and her group members, well, let’s just say orbits were right when they said the L in LOONA stood for Lesbians. No, what had her hiding in a closet, both literally and metaphorically, was a fear of Chaewon not returning her feelings. Her friendship with her was the single most valuable thing in her life and she couldn’t risk losing it.

Unfortunately for her, as much as she wished it hadn’t, the understanding of her own feelings had already changed things. At least from her side. She was suddenly aware of every miniscule detail. Her hands sweating whenever Chaewon linked their hands together. Her heart racing whenever she was near her or went to hug her. Everything was just too much. Suddenly, all she could think about whenever Chaewon was talking with her was wondering how the blonde girl’s lips would feel against her own.

Hyejoo wanted to strangle Sooyoung. Why did she have to go and make her realize that she had feelings for the other girl? Hadn’t she ever heard of how ignorance is bliss? Apparently not.

It was when they were backstage before a concert and Chaewon went to sit on her lap like usual and she panicked and ended up pushing her to the floor with a yelp that she realized that she would just have to avoid her before she found out about her feelings. Besides, the distance would probably help and things could go back to normal once she got her hormones under control.

Lamentably for her, she’d forgotten the fact that Chaewon was the single most stubborn person she’d ever met. Her plan for avoiding her had a great start. She’d managed not to talk to her more than once a day and had kept close to Yerim instead. Of course, the fact that they’d all been extremely busy the last few days and basically spent it practicing the whole time before crawling into bed exhausted at night probably had something to do with it. But that’s neither here nor there. 

It was almost a week after it’d first started that everything went downhill. The group had just finished practice when Chaewon approached her to ask if she wanted to go eat somewhere before heading back to the dorm since they hadn’t done that in a while, what with all the constant practicing. Hyejoo had immediately decided alone time with her was a bad idea but her body didn’t seem to get the memo as she dumbly nodded her agreement, unable to say anything as Chaewon smiled in response and went to get her stuff.

Cue Hyejoo running away, as she was prone to, straight to the nearest open door. And that is how Hyejoo found herself spending her free time hiding in a closet. Hyejoo wasn’t sure how long she’d been in there when the door suddenly opened and a thoroughly unamused blonde was looking down at her, arms crossed in annoyance. “I’m seriously hoping there is a good explanation for this Hye”, she stated.

Hyejoo wasn’t sure what to say and so opted to blurt out the first thing that came to her mind. “How’d you find me?” she asked, visibly flinching at the glare that was suddenly being directed towards her. “I thought you’d forgotten our plans and returned to the dorm with the other members so imagine my surprise when the find our friends' app pinged your location here. Want to explain?”

Hyejoo stayed where she was, frozen in thought. Chaewon sighed in frustration at the continuous silence before reaching down to grab Hyejoo by the sleeve, yanking her up from where she’d been crouched on the floor. Wordlessly, she turned around and started walking towards the study both girl’s shared, Hyejoo almost stumbling on her feet as she was dragged behind.

Once inside, Chaewon unceremoniously dropped her on the small couch before standing before her, arms crossed once again. “Look Hyejoo, you’ve been avoiding me all week and I want to know why.” Hyejoo looked up at her in surprise. “Wait, you knew?” she asked. Chaewon nodded. “I wasn’t sure if I was imagining things but this just confirmed things for me.”

Hyejoo immediately started thinking of ways she could still salvage this. “What are you talking about? I honestly forgot about our plans.” Chaewon stared at her in disbelief. “Hyejoo, you were hiding in a freaking closet”, she exclaimed. Hyejoo winced at that, knowing there was no reasonable explanation for that.

“I want to know why my best friend is avoiding me. We’re not leaving this room until you tell me the truth.” As if to emphasize her point, Chaewon dragged over a chair so it was facing Hyejoo and sat down, face expectant.

Hyejoo sighed in defeat, knowing from Chaewon’s face that she wasn’t getting out of this one. “It’s kind of stupid”, she said. Chaewon didn’t respond, face stoic as she waited for her to elaborate. “Sooyoung unnie may or may not have gotten in my head with something she said”, she mumbled, gaze stuck on the floor.

The other girl didn’t immediately answer but Hyejoo heard her getting up and walking closer. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting but it definitely wasn’t the sudden slap she got on the arm. “Hey, what was that for”, she exclaimed, hand rubbing the sore spot on her arm. Chaewon sat next to her on the couch, looking unapologetic. “That’s for taking anything Sooyoung unnie said seriously. I love her but she has no idea what she’s talking about most of the time.”

Hyejoo snorted, knowing she was right. “What was it though? You usually never listen to anything she has to say. And why did it end up in you avoiding me?” Hyejoo froze, unable to come up with an answer that didn’t reveal the very thing she’d been trying so hard to keep hidden.

Chaewon got serious again once she noticed Hyejoo was still keeping something from her. “Hye, please. Is it me, did she tell you something about me? She did, didn’t she? She promised she wouldn’t say anything. I’m going to kill her.” Hyejoo didn’t get the chance to respond before Chaewon had jumped off of the couch, instantly pacing back and forth. “I swear when I get my hands on her…”

Hyejoo was confused by the sudden turn of events and she stood up too, standing in front of Chaewon to stop the older girl’s angry pacing. “What are you talking about? What would she tell me about you that would make me avoid you?” she wondered aloud. Chaewon turned to face her. “I don’t know, you tell me.” Hyejoo raised her hands in what she hoped was a calming manner at the annoyed girl, hoping no one in the building had overheard her raised voice.

“Chae what’s going on?” Chaewon didn’t say anything but the fight seemed to go out of her as she deflated. Hyejoo gently led her back to the couch, sitting next to her. The silence between them stretched on as Hyejoo waited patiently for the blonde to speak. She knew from experience that the best way to get the other girl to speak was to simply be patient. Pushing too hard would simply make her close up again and that was the last thing she wanted.

Her patience paid off soon enough. “I may have told Sooyoung unnie I had a small crush on you.” She confessed, all in one breath. Hyejoo was sure she must have misunderstood. She didn’t want to get her hopes up for nothing. “I’m sorry, can you repeat that please?”

Chaewon sighed, annoyed. “I said, I kind of have a crush on you. I’m sorry if Sooyoung told you and you felt weird about it.” Hyejoo couldn’t help but let out a small laugh which only became louder at the offended look the other girl immediately shot her. Chaewon stood up, ready to leave when Hyejoo took ahold of her sleeve. “Wait, no. I’m sorry. It’s just that Sooyoung unnie didn’t tell me about you having a crush on me. She told me about me having a crush on you.”

Chaewon scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. “I know, it didn’t make sense to me either but I realized she was right.” Chaewon took a step closer. “Does this mean what I think it does?” She questioned, hopefully. Hyejoo simply nodded, deciding that words weren’t effective enough and to try another approach. Without hesitating, she closed the space between them, finally finding out the answer to her question after so long.

Their lips moved together as though they’d been doing this their whole lives. Hyejoo could taste the strawberry lip gloss Chaewon always used. She felt overwhelmed as the familiar vanilla scent filled her senses. Hyejoo’s arms automatically landed on Chaewon’s hips as the older girl’s arms encircled her neck.

The kiss couldn’t have lasted more than 10 seconds but Hyejoo felt overwhelmed. “Huh, I guess listening to Sooyoung unnie isn’t always a bad idea after all.” Chaewon joked, to which Hyejoo could only nod dumbly, still trying to wrap her head around everything. “I don’t suppose you want to go get something to eat now? I mean unless you’d rather go hide in the closet again.” It was said as a joke but Hyejoo could interpret the deeper meaning behind her question, detecting the slight worry in the blonde’s voice. “Actually, some food right now sounds kind of great”, she replied. Chaewon smiled brightly, reading the message between the lines. “Great, let’s go then”, she said, entangling her hand with Hyejoo’s.

Hyejoo made a mental note to buy a small gift for her subunit leader as a thank you. And some screws and wood dust as well to spread around her bed so she thought the top bunk bed was actually going to collapse on top of her at any moment. Couldn’t let her get too comfortable after all. With that in mind, she let Chaewon pull her along with a small smile on her face.

_The End_

ResponderReenviar  
---  
  
**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed it :)


End file.
